Various methods are currently used for providing audio conferencing to multiple participants. These methods include providing multiple wired or wireless microphones so that each participant in a room can be heard by the far end during an audio conference call. Audio from these multiple wired and wireless microphones are mixed and processed in a digital signal processor. The prior art teaches various acoustic echo cancellation methods to prevent audio originating from participants at the far end from returning back to the far end in what is known as an echo. This echo cancellation processing is accomplished in a digital signal processing device.
For telephone audio conferencing, an analog telephone land line or Voice-over-IP phone line must be connected into the digital signal processing device. This allows audio to be transmitted over the land line or Voice-over-IP line to the far end participants, and allows audio from the far end participants to be received by participants in the local room. The audio signal is routed in the digital signal processing device to send mixed microphone audio to the far end, and to send the received audio from the far end to the local room loudspeakers for participants to hear.
The present invention eliminates the need to use a land line or Voice-over-IP line in a conferencing system utilizing signal processing technology and instead utilizes standard mobile phones while still offering echo cancellation technology. Current mobile telephones have provisions for connecting to devices utilizing Bluetooth technology. To utilize Bluetooth, users must pair their devices with a Bluetooth enabled device to allow for wireless audio communication between the two devices. The present invention provides an interface between a standard Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone to transmit processed audio signal from multiple wired or wireless microphones in a local room to far end participants.
There exists a need for a telephone conferencing device that eliminates the requirement of a land line or a Voice-over-IP line for acceptable echo cancellation signal processing. There further exists a need for a telephone conferencing device that utilizes the Bluetooth feature of mobile telephones to capture audio signals from one or more mobile telephones and process those signals into an enhanced digital audio stream for delivery to far end users. There exists an additional need for a device that processes digital audio signals from mobile telephones and delivers echo cancellation and enhanced audio features to all call participants in the context of telephone conferencing with land or Voice-over-IP telephone lines.